Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to graphics rendering in a limited display device and more particularly to chart rendering in a limited display device.
Description of the Related Art
The processing power of the personal computer has proven essential in processing chunks of data to provide fast data reduction not previously possible with the unaided human mind. Essential to data reduction is the visualization of the data reduction. As an essential form of data visualization, charts are often used to ease understanding of large quantities of data and the relationships between parts of the data. Charts can usually be read more quickly than the raw data from which they are produced. Certain types of charts are more useful for presenting a given data set than others. For example, data that presents percentages in different groups or classifications are often displayed in a “pie chart” or a “bar chart”. A pie chart is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating numerical proportion. In comparison, a bar chart or bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. Conversely, data that represents numbers that change over a period of time are best shown as a line chart. A line chart or line graph is a type of chart which displays information as a series of data points called ‘markers’ connected by straight line segments.
Displaying data visualizations in a desktop display for a personal computer is of no consequence and modern desktop displays are so large in size, that multiple concurrent displays of different data visualizations in the desktop display can be common. However, with the recent ubiquity of the smart phone and tablet computing, display space has become limited. Therefore, displaying data visualizations within the limited display space of a pervasive device can be quite limited. To wit, many smart phone end users are often compelled to engage in irritating horizontal and vertical scrolling in order to view a complete chart.
To account for the display of a data visualization like a chart or graph in a limited display device, many devices provide for the automated reduction in size of the chart so as to fit the full display of the chart or graph within the confines of the limited display. However, in doing so, detail becomes obscured so that the end user is forced to perform a “zoom” operation to view the very specific details of the data visualization. Yet, the details of the data visualization may be important to understanding the underlying raw data, notwithstanding the general inconvenience of viewing anything in the tiny display area of a conventional display device.